They just turned around and found an outstanding nurse already working in the ER. Tamara Freeman, R.N., is in her third week as Director of Emergency Services.

Tamara's career began as a children's librarian in New England. Then she changed careers, becoming a nurse in a busy emergency room in a large city, and finally settling in southern Virginia.

A native of Oxford, a small town in upstate New York, Freeman was a Children's Librarian in Montpelier, Vermont after graduating from Goddard College in Vermont.

She moved to the Baltimore area a few years later, was married and started her family, which now includes four children. She decided to return to school and chose to enter nursing school. She became the first nursing student to earn the honor of valedictorian of her class at Anne Arundel Community College.

Freeman was hired at Saint Agnes Hospital as a nurse to work in the emergency room, the second busiest in Maryland with approximately 75,000 visits a year. "Working in a busy emergency room means you must be ready to meet a new challenge at any time," she says. "In the emergency room, you deal with more issues than just the patient's illness or injury. Patients often return frequently and you learn their life story."

"Sometimes nurses are pushed to their limit," she continues, "and you must use your knowledge and skills to the maximum. You realize that you have made a difference. That's what it is all about."

Three years later, Freeman joined the renown Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was a nurse in the pediatrics section. "It was amazing to work at Johns Hopkins, where patients come from all over the world. We learned to relate to many different cultures, which helped you realize that basically we're all not that much different from each other, no matter where we are from," she added.

"There is a great amount of collaboration between physicians and nurses at Johns Hopkins and a lot of respect for nursing as its own profession," she continued.

After years enduring the hectic pace of living in a large metro area, Tamara and her husband and four children longed for land in a rural area. "We searched southern Virginia and found Mecklenburg County and the lake area. Everyone seemed so friendly and willing to help with whatever we needed, so we bought eight acres outside of Clarksville. We have chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, Great Danes and a retired race horse."

She began to look for a job as a nurse. She applied at several hospitals and was offered a job at Duke Medical Center, among other hospitals. "I chose Danville Regional because I felt I could make a difference."

For the past year, she has commuted one hour and 15 minutes each way to Danville to work in the emergency room. After six months as a staff nurse, she was promoted to Clinical Coordinator and, on July 16, she became Director of the Emergency Department when the interim director completed his assignment. She drives by several hospitals each day to work at Danville Regional.

"Tamara was chosen for this responsibility because of her strong commitment to quality patient care, her leadership skills and work experience," said Bill Keith, Chief Operating Officer. "She truly cares about the patients we serve and strives for the best for them at all times."

The Medical Center is making a commitment to inform the community about the ER. "While the ER is viewed as the `face' of a hospital, it can be misunderstood," said Art Doloresco, CEO. "We plan to work with the community to create a greater level of confidence and assurance that we are really working hard to improve the service.

Freeman knows the challenges facing physicians and nurses in seeing patients in a timely manner. "We know that each patient considers his/her visit an emergency," she says. "Often, it is. Even when it is not a true emergency, we try hard to demonstrate our compassion," Tamara says.

For example, she and other nurses reach out to those waiting "to do little things that make a difference," she says. As an example, she recently gave Motrin to an individual waiting for treatment for a spider bite. Giving a blanket to a child is another example of trying to help patients become more comfortable as they wait.

"We have formed a team, including physicians, nurses and other professionals, to identify ways to reduce wait times and provide for a higher level of satisfaction. "The problem extends beyond the ER, so we're working to reduce glitches in the process." In 2005, there were more than 46,000 visits to the ER at Danville Regional.

"We are committed to providing the public with an efficient ER, Freeman says. "We realize that sometimes the ER is the only place sick people can turn to. We have many resources at Danville Regional, and our challenge is to coordinate all of them to take care of patients."

"We became nurses because we want to take care of sick people. Nursing is a great profession because it combines thinking and knowledge with hands-on practice," she explains. "You have the opportunity to make a difference in peoples' lives. What could be more important?"